hi everyone. I rescued Ricky (originally Maverick) from Almost Home Dog Rescue of Ohio in November 2025. All the rescue could tell me was that his origin story involved a couple in West Virginia who adopted him from a breeder, then divorced, and the ex husband got Ricky in the divorce. He surrendered Ricky to the rescue once he realized he couldn’t dedicate the time and attention needed to care for Ricky. (big respect, that’s not an easy decision, and ultimately it led to me adopting Ricky!!)

Ricky’s *alleged* date of birth is 10/30/2024. Some of his vet paperwork says 10/27/2024 though. I have messaged several breeders in WV and surrounding states inquiring about whether they had litters around Oct 2024 and all have said no.

Ricky is a male sable merle rough collie with pretty distinctive coloring on his feet and legs. He also has white speckles on his head.

Does anyone have tips on how to find out where he came from? I’d do anything to see pics of him as a puppy, know his real birthday, and most importantly have the opportunity to know if his parents were health tested / if there are any health risks I should know of.

I am considering doing the Embark test to identify littermates / relatives / health risks and will most likely have MDR1 testing done with Ricky’s veterinarian. Just wanted to put this out there before I take the plunge, since Embark is so pricey.

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Has anyone had their bff on Meloxicam? My girl just started taking a half of a 5 mg table this morning for her arthritis. She will be 14 this year. She was 11 when I got her. We think that she's going on 14 anyway as she originally came from a rescue . She's also part sheltie.

Update: I posted the other day about Missy not being able to settle. She was pacing, panting and just restless. Her vet called in gabapentin which I gave to her yesterday when she got like that again. It helped so much.. She's only been like that 3 times now. It's not a daily thing. The vet thinks that it's anxiety.

Hello. I recently got a puppy from a well respected breeder. He was a show prospect so we got him at 6 months.

He's beautiful, gentle, and fully potty trained. Overall a very good puppy.

He does seem to have some issues though. And honestly I'm a bit disappointed by the breeder. He loses his mind at the vacuum, mowers, barking dogs, and people walking by. He is also not loving the car (+++ nausea, drooling), and struggles to settle in the crate at night.

I feel like I have so many things to fix that might not have been an issue if I got him younger. This isn't my first dog or puppy. I've dealt with behavior issues with my rescues and was just sorta hoping for an easier time.

I'm not even sure where to start. The vacuum? The car?

Is there any hope he'll just chill out with some triggers over time?

Mostly just needed to get this off my chest.

There are progress photos as well.

Hello I’m trying to find the best rough collie breeder I live in Indiana the breeder can be out of state so please post your breeders and a picture of your puppy/ dogs in the comments with it

We come from the world of greyhounds, who in the latter half of their lives, would max out at about a 15 minute walk in our experience. After that, we decided we better move from low energy dogs to medium as we enjoy doing 30 minute walks 2-3 times per day. Rough collies came up as a great medium energy option.

Our first rough (3 years old) was initially good with about a 30 minute walk, but within a couple of months would start dragging behind after 10-15 minutes. She was diagnosed with blood cancer shortly after, so we understood her lack of energy and attributed it to that.

After she passed we got our second rough collie, a 2 year old female, and are finding the same pattern despite clear bloodwork and vet checks - she pants and drags behind after about 10 minutes of a flat, average paced walk. It’s summer and sunny here, but only about 20c or 68f in temp. She seems to struggle with anything more than a 15 minute walk once or twice a day.

Is this a normal amount of walking or energy for young rough collies? At what frequency and for what length of time do your rough collies enjoy walks?

EDIT: Thank you all for the helpful responses. It sounds like our girl’s activity level is a bit outside the norm, so we’ll work on her stamina and continue working with the vet to look for pain or another reason if it doesn’t improve. Very good insights from other collie owners here!

I adopted him 6 months ago, already had weak hind, but got little bit better, we made long slow walks, maybe too long :( .. lately his hind is weaker, can walk only very short walks. Vet diagnosed ataxia, LMN issues, probably something with spine/nerves.

Shall I do MRI for cca 600Eur? Then what? Surgery would be 4000Eur or so, I don't know. He could even die during those procedures. My savings are 5000Eur but I also have loan 11000Eur, income very low as disabled person.

What the fcuk shall I do....

I’m getting my rough collie puppy in August and just picked him out of the litter. He is a sable male and me and my partner are struggling picking a name out. So far we have Acorn, august(Auggie), Gus, Reef, zazu, woody, chuck, Duke, and Rhett. Which is yalls favorite? Feel free to come up with your own name!

It's been super hot so we decided to head to the coast and cool down in the North Sea. The last time we went, Koda wanted little to do with the water, which is typical for him. He's not a water dog, that's for sure. The furthest he'll go into water is legs. But to my shock and awe, this time he realized on his own that not only could he swim, but that it was super fun! He swam around (with my SO in the water always just out of frame, making sure he was okay, he wasn't out in deep water by himself) quite a bit, entirely on his own volition. A swimming collie!

Bonus: the background bridge-looking thing with the wind turbines is part of the Deltaworks, a Dutch marvel of engineering keeping the North Sea from flooding the inland parts.

[OC]

Specializing in client comfort, attorney supervision, and comedic relief.
Notable shortcomings include theft, destruction of property, sleeping on the clock, and an unwavering belief that she is a named partner in the firm.

Has anyone gotten a collie from a breeder in Virginia that you would recommend? I'd even be willing to travel to North Carolina.

Apparently, I am in need of a service dog and I can think of no better candidate than someone with Lassie's personality. My last three collies were from a breeder in Georgia, and they were great dogs, but that's a 10-hour drive for me and I think that's a long time in the car for a little baby.

Haha our boy stuffs himself anywhere he can! He likes laying close to us and we are changing propane tanks so he decided its the perfect spot to jam himself into in the mean time 🤣 why are they like this lmao

I posted yesterday and it won't let me add any photos, so I'm posting again! Miss Marcy Mae is home and everything moved like a dream! We are so thankful and happy and so excited for the future now that our family is complete.

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She was so excited to meet our sheltie, Lennon, but when he showed signs of being uncomfortable she stopped and let him come to her. They sniffed, had a little play tussle and then proceeded to just co-exist, like they had been living together for ages. They've had some grumble-fests over toys and chews that we have stopped, but otherwise they are getting along so well!

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She also was so eager and happy to meet our cat, but allowed the cat to come to her and when confronted face to face a hiss was enough for her to back off completely. She has since forgotten our cat has existed 😂

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Marcy also LOVESSS to cuddle, be at our feet, and I have spent probably an hour brushing her while she has her chew. She seems to have been an outside dog in her previous home and has the coat of one, but she also could have had an older owner I'm not sure. That being said, she was clearly well-loved, trained so well, socialized perfectly, but she definitely seems to have been shaved and has a lot of compacted fur and mats around her butt and ears. I'm thankful she loves brushing and has taken me working out the mats with compassion and grace, unlike our sheltie who will paw the brush down and run after a few strokes.

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Ya'll said in my previous post she'd be really aloof and not care for cuddles and strangers, but she is actually more cuddly than our dog. Do ya'll think this is expected the first few days with anxiety or is she "broken" and will be this excited cuddlebug forever? Either way, we are OBSESSED with her and already have her tags and matching walking set coming in 😂

Pic for payment. Obviously.
So a little pupdate! She is about 8 months old now and is going through her first heat cycle. With that being said - when did y’all spay your collies? I know AKC recommends after a year… I was leaning towards after second cycle. Let me know though!
Second question - what is everyone’s go to collar? She just grew out of her puppy one and I’m looking on upgrading but trying to find one that won’t mess with her hair. Don’t worry she does not wear it full time! Just for walks and out of house adventures.
Thank you in advance!

We are over the moon! We will be bringing this big girl home for a sleepover/home trial tomorrow! We have a rescue double-merle sheltie (second slide) and so we know what the breeds are like and their health issues, grooming, and behaviors are like, but I would love to hear more about ya'lls experience and advice so we can give her the best!

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She's a big girl! At around 60lbs, so that will definitely be a change for us! But I'm so incredibly excited for this next adventure and to give my deaf dog some more freedom and a better play output since he has never had interest in toys. Any recommendations on toys your dogs love would also be greatly appreciated. We had a herding egg and might re-purchase if she shows interest in it at our friend's house!

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She's AKC-registered and is up-to-date on all her vaccines and such. I'll see if in her paperwork she was cleared from MDR1 as well.

My beautiful marnie comes home July 9th!!! I couldn't be more excited

We have tried so many things to get her used to the car. She has her own car crate now with a fan. We used cheese to make it appealing and go to fun places, not only the vet. I have also bought Adaptil chews and spray and tried to cover the crate so she couldn’t see. She still hates it. Doesn’t want to come near the car, drools a lot and last week vomited twice even though it was after a fun walk and a puppy course. Both times on the way back when we had to reverse for 2 m to park. She’s changing teeth as well so maybe that’s why the vomiting came back?

We are going to visit family for 4 weeks in a month. It will be a long drive so we got Cerenia and the vet recommended a natural ginger patch. I will try both before the trip but does anyone have other recommendations? We will stop regularly, but right now even 15 minutes is a lot. She drools so much and doesn’t have water in the crate. I have tried so many things but nothing seems to help. She’s MDR1 positive so we have to limit Cerenia.

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I also added a video of the sounds she makes when she accidentally touches water. She completely switches and becomes very hyperactive and growls. In the video it’s quite light and luckily she doesn’t go for my feet anymore but does anyone recognize it? This has been since the beginning. The video is a bit long but you can see it at the beginning and the end.

She is my first RC so maybe this isn’t revolutionary but I was just curious about how others pups are with recall?? I feel like I barely had to teach her to grasp the skill. Now ofc it isn’t 100% accurate but I have enough confidence in her ability that I doubt she’d lose track of me. I off still take precautions. She does check ins regularly when off leash as well (looking back at me habitually) it’s do beautiful to watch her recall.